New  Engineering  Buildings 
at  Minnesota 


BY 


FRANCIS  C.  SHENEHON 


Dean  College  of  Engineering,  University  of  Minnesota 


Re  fir  in  ted  from 
The  Bent  of  Tau  Beta  Pi 
April,  / p/3 


Engineering  Library 


NEW  ENGINEERING  BUILDINGS  AT 
MINNESOTA 

By  F.  C.  Shenehon,  Hon.  Minn.  Alpha 

The  College  of  Engineering  of  the  University  of  Minnesota 
has  recently  completed  two  large,  adequate,  well-planned,  beauti- 
ful buildings.  The  Experimental  Engineering  Building  was  first 
in  use  in  September  1911,  the  main  Engineering  Building  was 
ready  for  the  school  year  beginning  in  September  1912.  The  com- 
pletion of  these  two  buildings  marks  an  epoch  in  the  history  and 
growth  of  the  college.  It  marks  progress  towards  the  full  com- 
plement of  buildings,  projected  to  meet  the  ultimate  needs  of  the 
college.  The  completed  group  under  the  Cass  Gilbert  Plans 
embraces  ten  Engineering  buildings ; nine  of  these  buildings  form 
a square,  in  the  center  of  which  is  the  Main  Engineering  Build- 
ing. That  portion  of  the  Campus  allotted  to  the  Engineering 
Group  comprises  ten  acres,  and  lies  to  the  north  of  Washington 
Avenue,  and  is  accessible  by  the  Interurban  electric  railway,  which 
connects  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul.  It  is  just  twenty  minutes 
from  the  heart  of  the  business  section  of  Minneapolis,  and  just 
forty  minutes  from  that  of  St.  Paul,  to  the  engineering  group. 

The  Main  Engineering  Building  as  its  name  implies  serves  the 
general  or  common  purposes  of  the  college.  It  houses  the  offices 
of  administration,  the  central  engineering  library,  the  college 
auditorium,  welfare  rooms  for  the  students,  and  many  class  rooms, 
lecture  rooms  and  drafting  rooms  that  are  used  by  architects  and 
engineers  of  all  degrees. 

The  main  Engineering  Building  is  231  feet  long  in  the  body 
and  65  feet  in  least  width  ; in  addition  are  two  wings  on  the  east 
side  of  the  building,  70x40  feet.  The  north  wing  is  devoted 
exclusively  to  the  Central  Engineering  Library.  The  south  wing 
is  devoted  exclusively  to  well-lighted,  large  drafting  rooms. 

The  body  of  the  building  is  of  three  main  floors,  above  a com- 
modious well  lighted  basement,  and  under  this  a sub-basement 


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space  for  pipes  and  conduits.  The  architectural  style  is  Italian 
Renaissance ; and  the  materials  used  are  Colonial  brick  in  masses, 
with  Bedford  stone  up  to  the  first  story  and  in  the  cornice  and 
trimmings.  The  brick  is  laid  in  Dutch  bond,  with  three-quarter 
inch  joints  hollowed  out.  The  combination  of  Colonial  brick  and 
Bedford  stone  is  most  attractive,  the  reds  and  purples  of  the 
brick  giving  a warmth  of  tone  very  grateful  in  the  latitude  of 
Minnesota. 

The  basement  is  utilized  for  student  welfare  rooms,  locker 
rooms,  toilet  rooms,  blue  print,  storage  and  research  rooms,  and 
instrument  and  calibration  rooms  for  the  civil  engineers.  The 
basement  under  the  north  wing  is  used  as  a stack  room  in  connec- 
tion with  the  library,  and  has  a capacity  of  40,000  volumes. 
The  basement  of  the  south  wing  is  a light  wholesome  drafting 
room. 

The  first  floor  is  largely  devoted  to  recitation  and  lecture  rooms, 
and  to  the  offices  of  members  of  the  faculty.  In  addition  the 
offices  of  the  Dean  of  the  College  with  adjoining  committee  room 
are  on  this  floor ; and  special  light  and  dark  lecture  rooms  adapted 
to  the  use  of  technical  societies  are  centralized  here. 

In  the  north  wing  as  previously  stated  is  the  beautiful  engineer- 
ing library.  This  room  extends  through  two  floors,  with  a bal- 
cony at  the  level  of  the  second  floor,  and  has  over-head  skylight. 
On  the  first  floor  the  alcove  system  is  used.  All  second  story 
windows  are  blanked,  so  that  the  whole  outside  wall  space  is  de- 
voted to  book  shelves.  The  balcony  is  made  additionally  useful 
and  attractive  by  a reading  desk  on  all  four  sides  of  the  balcony 
overhang.  The  library  is  finished  in  fumed  oak  with  some  elaborate 
carving,  and  the  plaster  work  of  the  cornice  and  ceiling  beams  is 
finished  in  ivory  white.  The  floors  are  of  battleship  linoleum  laid 
on  concrete  slabs  and  are  noiseless.  The  deep  green  of  the  floor 
covering  and  of  the  balcony  rail,  with  the  rich  brown  of  the  fumed 
oak,  and  the  white  above,  give  a color  scheme  of  great  richness. 

The  book  capacity  of  the  gallery  is  10,000  volumes,  and  that 
of  the  first  floor  the  same.  This  with  the  stack  capacity  of  the 
basement  already  mentioned  gives  an  aggregate  book  capacity  of 
60,000  volumes. 

The  second  floor  is  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  recitation, 


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Main  Engineering  Building 


lecture  and  drafting  rooms,  and  offices.  A particular  feature  of 
this  floor  is  the  post-senior  civil  engineers’  room.  The  post  seniors 
are  the  fifth  year  men  who  have  received  at  the  end  of  their  fourth 
year  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  engineering.  It  was 
thought  that  they  should  receive  somewhat  more  dignified  treat- 
ment than  is  accorded  to  the  regular  engineering  students.  In 
accordance  with  this  view  each  man  has  his  individual  fumed  oak 
desk,  and  his  individual  place  at  a drafting  table  built  for  two. 
Ultimately  individual  drafting  tables  will  replace  the  large  tables. 
A smaller  room  on  the  same  floor  is  fitted  up  in  the  same  way  and 
devoted  to  the  post-senior  mechanical  engineers.  The  post-senior 
electrical  engineers  have  their  office  in  the  electrical  building.  The 
corridors  of  the  second  and  third  floors  are  of  battleship  linoleum 
the  same  as  that  already  mentioned  in  the  library.  The  first  floor 
corridor  is  of  white  ceramic  tile  with  green  border. 

The  north  drafting  room  of  the  third  floor,  and  this  is  over  the 
post-senior  civil  room,  is  devoted  to  structural  and  other  work  of 
the  senior  civil  engineers.  The  east  rooms  on  this  floor  are  devoted 
to  architectural  work.  Other  rooms  are  devoted  to  architectural 
studios  and  cast  rooms.  Some  lecture  and  recitation  rooms  come 
on  this  floor  and  a dark  projection  room  is  also  provided.  Finally 
the  auditorium  of  the  college  with  a seating  capacity  of  four 
hundred  persons  is  on  this  third  floor. 

The  building  has  been  constructed  with  a view  of  ultimately 
adding  a roof  house  as  the  demand  for  more  space  for  Architecture 
becomes  apparent. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  building  is  provided  with  three  big 
vaults  for  the  records  of  the  college  itself,  those  of  the  civil  depart- 
ment and  the  department  of  drawing.  In  addition  to  those  men- 
tioned, the  departments  of  mathematics  and  mechanics,  and  archi- 
tecture are  housed  in  this  building. 

Structurally  the  building  is  fully  fire  proof  throughout.  The 
floors  are  of  reinforced  concrete  using  the  mushroom  system.  The 
building  is  adequately  provided  with  artificial  ventilation  on  the 
plenum  system,  and  the  toilet  rooms  have  exhaust  ventilation  as 
well.  For  heating  purposes  the  direct  radiation  of  the  room  is 
sufficient  with  the  fans  at  rest.  With  the  fans  in  motion  the  air 
is  tempered,  washed,  heated  and  forced  in  generous  quantities  to 


Recitation  Room  with  Opaque  Projection  Lantern 


Post  Senior  Civil  Engineers’  Office 


the  various  rooms  of  the  building.  The  building  is  electrically 
lighted,  drafting  rooms  and  the  auditorium  utilizing  the  indirect 
system.  As  the  building  is  central  in  the  group  it  is  provided  with 
entrances  at  each  end,  and  midway  on  each  side  of  the  building. 

Experimental  Laboratory 

The  Experimental  Engineering  Building  is  located  on  the 
east  margin  of  the  engineering  campus  along  Union  Street.  Its 
front  entrance  looks  to  the  westward  and  to  the  symmetrical 
entrance  of  the  main  engineering  building.  The  building  itself 
is  of  the  same  length  as  the  main  engineering  building,  and  its 
body  of  practically  the  same  width.  For  office  and  recitation 
room  space  two  wings  reach  towards  the  wings  of  the  main 
engineering  building.  This  arrangement  carries  out  the  suggestion 
of  a secondary  quadrangle.  The  building  has  a basement  and 
two  stories. 

The  main  room  in  the  body  of  the  building  has  inside 
dimensions  of  about  57  x 227  feet.  It  is  all  one  large  beautiful 
room  reaching  to  the  roof  with  overhead  sky-lighting.  The 
walls  are  of  buff  enameled  brick.  The  cement  floor  is  of  Nile 
green.  This  combination  of  colors  makes  the  room  most  attract- 
ive as  a place  to  work  in.  The  main  floor  is  of  heavy  reinforced 
concrete  so  designed  that  an  engine  may  be  placed  anywhere 
without  considering  any  further  foundations  or  supports.  Down 
the  center  of  the  room  are  hatchways  or  openings  looking  into  the 
basement.  These  have  value  for  better  lighting  of  the  basement, 
better  ventilation  and  better  access.  On  the  main  laboratory 
floor  a water  tube  boiler  of  150  horse  power  carrying  250  pounds 
of  steam  pressure  provides  steam  to  a main  leading  southward 
along  the  east  wall.  Next  to  the  boiler  are  experimental  engines, 
then  come  steam  operated  pumps,  motor  driven  pumps,  a hydraulic 
tank  and  weir  and  water  measuring  devices  of  various  kinds.  In 
the  southwest  corner  is  the  big  materials-testing  machine  for 
breaking  beams  and  columns ; and  smaller  machines  of  the  same 
kind  are  adjacent.  Towards  the  north  end  of  the  room  on  the 
west  side  are  gas  and  gasoline  and  heat  engines  of  various  types, 
and  opposite  the  boiler  in  the  northwest  corner  is  a testing  floor 
where  engines  may  be  brought  in  for  tests  and  experimentation. 
This  bringing  in  of  engines  is  facilitated  by  a 10  ton  crane  which 


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Experimental  Engineering  Laboratory 


Cement  Test  Laboratory 


travels  the  full  length  of  the  building.  In  the  basement  are 
rooms  for  the  testing  of  road  materials,  cements  and  concretes,  a 
fine  wash  room  with  shower  baths,  a locker  room,  store  rooms, 
and  research  and  thesis  rooms. 

On  the  second  floor  level  a balcony  overlooks  the  main  labor- 
atory floor.  From  this  balcony  floor,  recitation  and  computing 
rooms  open,  and  the  museum  of  broken  specimens,  which  is  yet 
to  be  established. 

The  Experimental  Department  is  destined  to  perform  a most 
useful  function  for  the  state  as  well  as  for  the  college.  Plans  are 
maturing  for  large  use  of  this  laboratory  as  an  experiment  station 
working  for  the  higher  efficiency  of  industrial,  municipal  and 
state  enterprises  in  Minnesota.  The  experimental  department  is 
for  the  use  of  all  other  departments  of  the  college,  and  electrical 
engineers,  mechanical  engineers,  civil  engineers  and  architects 
all  receive  work  in  this  beautiful  laboratory  building. 


